Montréal Guide
Vieux-Montréal
Severed from downtown by the Autoroute Ville-Marie, the gracious district of Vieux-Montréal was left to decay until the last couple of decades, when developers stepped in with generally tasteful renovations that brought colour and vitality back to the area. North America's greatest concentration of seventeenth, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings has its fair share of tourists, but it's popular with Montréalers, too – formerly as a symbolic place to air francophone grievances; more recently as a spot to wander around, take in the sights and, increasingly, to inhabit the condos converted from the old warehouses. Place d'Armes is the most central Métro station, although Square-Victoria or Champ-de-Mars are handier for the western and eastern ends of the district.